Kaida took Kimimaro to a nearby village, first confirming that Orochimaru had not already manipulated the minds of these people.
But just when they were about to enter the village, Kimimaro stopped just on the boundary, unable to take the final step.
Kaida, noticing Kimimaro's hesitation, paused beside him. He didn't push him forward or urge him to hurry. Instead, he spoke in a calm, steady voice.
"It's okay, Kimimaro. No one here knows you. No one here fears you. You're not their enemy, and they're not yours."
This was not the first time he was going to a village, but with all things he had faced till now, Kimimaro had already given up any hope to go back to civilization, ready to live or die in the jungle. He had maintained a tough exterior to face the harsh world.
But when Kaida looked at him like he was also a human, said that the world was not his enemy, that the whole world doesn't hate him and want him dead, the tough exterior he had built over the months crumbled, and the real eight-year-old boy emerged for the first time.
The boy who was worried that the few things he had learned, the things that were giving him hope to live, would crumble if the same things happened in this village as well.
Seeing the turmoil of emotions raging inside the boy, Kaida sighed, went on his knees to make eye contact with Kimimaro.
"How about this: if we go inside and someone looks toward you like that, I will say I dragged you there. No one will be able to do anything to you when I am inside, and I will take full responsibility for every action. Okay?" Kaida asked.
Kimimaro, slowly taking deep breaths, nodded his head, finally crossing the boundary and entering the village. Kaida asked the location of the inn in the village from a random passerby.
The passerby turned to look toward the duo and grimaced. Kimimaro flinched at that. 'It's all over.'
"Boy, did you fall into a gutter or something? That one over there is the inn. Go and take a bath quickly," he said, and left a smiling Uchiha and shocked Kaguya clan member.
"Well, at least we found the location of the inn. Now let's go," Kaida said and took Kimimaro to the inn.
When he entered the inn, there was a middle-aged plump lady sitting at the counter, looking bored to the extreme, which was understandable. With the condition of the Land of Water, there are not many people traveling, so inns are relatively empty most of the time.
When she saw the two of them entering, a smile covering half of her face emerged, but seeing the condition of Kimimaro, it went down a level, thinking it may be some beggar here to ask for a free meal, which was not rare at all.
"Welcome, welcome to our Shizukumo Inn, the best in the village," she said cheerfully, with the hope that they were real customers and not some beggars.
"Do you have a room free? One attached with a bath would be ideal," Kaida asked, placing a bundle of 1000 Ryo bills on the counter.
Kaida could have sworn he saw the symbol of Ryo appearing in the lady's eyes when she saw the money.
'Was that some unknown kekkei genkai?' Kaida thought with an inward chuckle.
Coming to her senses in a minute, the lady quickly took away the money, in the fear that they may take it back. Then with the most business-like smile she could muster, she continued.
"Of course we have a room with a bath, and dare I say even nobles will not find that room lacking. I will also arrange some warm water for the bath. Until then, please take some rest in your room," the lady said, and quickly called her son to guide them to their room.
The room was covering half of the first floor of the inn, which in reality was not much, just a 2BHK, but still for a village of this size, it was the epitome of leisure they could have.
After entering the room, Kaida asked the boy for the menu of the inn and was not surprised that most of it only included seafood, with bread being more expensive than seafood.
Kaida left the ordering of food to Kimimaro and went outside for a minute. In all the fight and discussion, he had forgotten an important detail. The clone which should have been in his place with his team was no more, and the distance from here to the main business city was enough that it would take several hours to reach there.
'Still, it is better than days,' Kaida thought and sent a shadow clone toward his team with 30 percent of his chakra. Due to the fight, he was not at his full strength, and since Orochimaru just ran away and was not defeated or anything, there was a high chance he might come back.
So Kaida decided to just spend enough chakra, rather than overcompensate for any possible danger when he had a real, actual danger looming over his head.
After sending the clone, Kaida went back to the room, only to find Kimimaro had ordered food for himself, which was the smallest fish on the menu, not more than a few Ryo.
"Are you being shy?" Kaida asked, chuckling at that.
"No, I am just not hungry." grrr A shade much redder than before came on his face because of the betrayal of his stomach. Kaida would have laughed at that, but he didn't want to increase the embarrassment of the boy in front of him.
"Well, you may not be hungry, but I am, so I am going all out on the food," Kaida said and called the boy back with the bell in the room.
"Yes, sir?"
"I want to order all top 10 dishes of the inn, with a jug of juice and 2 loaves of bread," Kaida gave his order. The boy nodded with a smile and left, already expecting something like that.
Soon the table in the room was full of food, where Kaida sat alone, as Kimimaro was sitting on the bed eating his fish in silence. Though Kaida found him looking toward the table from time to time.
Due to living on wild berries and burnt fish for so long, the perfectly cooked food was difficult to resist, though his shyness was stopping him from asking for a share.
"Oh shit, I have ordered too much. What can I do now? All of this will go to waste. Kimimaro, can you help me with this please?" Kaida asked. Kimimaro could easily understand what was happening, which only resulted in him smiling a little more.
"Yes," he said and joined Kaida at the table. Even though he was still smelling awful, after a hand and face wash, he was finally looking like a human, not some exotic creature.
After they ate their food, the mother-son duo brought the warm water to the room one by one, filling the bathtub in the room. Kimimaro somehow looked happier with that than with the food.
After taking a thorough bath two times, it looked like all of the previous filth was nothing but an illusion. After buying some new clothes from the village, Kimimaro was now a completely different person.
After that, they took some rest and then left for the business city of the Land of Water. Kaida's clone should have reached the city by then and would handle things there, so they took their time in their journey, slowly (by ninja standards) going towards their destination.